Torsion spring seat-spring stiffener



Jan. 1, 1957 J. E. KUBACKA 2,775,997

TORSION SPRING SEAT-SPRING STIFFENER Filed Jan. l2, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR WHY I' n ATTORNEYS Jan. 1, 1957 J. E. KUBACKA 2,775,997

TORSION SPRING SEAT-SPRING STIFFENER Filed Jan. 12, 19,55 2 sheets-shew 2 INVENTOR MZQYM ATTORNEYS United States Patent O 2,175,997. roRsIoN SPRING. SEAT-SPRING, sf1:IrEENuR Joseph E. Kubacka, Birmingham, Mich., assignor to-General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of'Delaware Application January 12, 1S!5,3Serial` No. 330,650.

4 Claims. (Cl. 15S-179) ed of Ia plurality of parallel sinuous a't springs that extend across between the front and rear rails of the seat frame. In a known spring seat o f thisV type, each sinuous spring includes a crowned seating portion that is anchored at its rear `end =to the rear rail` :and at its front end tothe front rail by means of an inwardly extending V`shaped front portion formed integrallywith the seating porti-on. The seat frame is. of substantially rectangular shape and includes a centrally located reinforcing. member between the front and rear rails thereof. The Aside rails of the seat frame are substantially horizontal but the central reinforcing. member is bowed upwardly to clear the accumulated heights of various items such as the drive shaft tunnel, the underseat` heater crossover ducts, and the seat adjuster stabilizer rod. 'Phe` sinuous spring elements lare substantially identical land therefore some means must be provided to increase the load rate of the spring elements in the region above the central reinforcing member to prevent their bot-toming thereon if the spring elements `are :to provide maximum exibilty for the yleft and right sides of the seat cushion.

|It is accordingly :an object of the invention `to provide a simple stiiener for imparting supplemental resiliency to a localized area of a cushion seat construction.

The particular st-iiener devised is a triple-looped square-corrugated rod with the central loop raised from the plane of the outer loops. The central loop is pivotably connected across those seating portion sinuous spring elements that lie in the region ,above the central frame reinforcing member. The outer loops are pivotably connected across other sinuous spring elements lthat lie on the sides of the central loop at the V-shaped or knee portions thereof. The central loop serves .as `a crank arm to torsion the outer loops when the sinuous spring elements are ilexed downwardly, thereby imparting supplemental resiliency to the seat cushion in the area above the central frame reinforcing member.

lFurther objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view, partially broken away, of an automobile lseat structure embodying the torsion spring stiffener of the invention,

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the torsion spring stiener,

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View through the automobile seat structure taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, .and

2,775,997 Patented Jsan. 1 19,51

ICC

21 Clig. 4 is a vertical sectional View through the auto.- mobile seat structure taken= on the plane indicated bythe line 4 4 o f Fig. 1.

Referringnowfto the drawings, the seat frame lis shown ast formed of hollow tubing :and includes` a front raily 1.2, side rails. 14, .a centrally located and upwardly bowed lreinforcing member 16. :and Ia rear yrail 18. A plurality of ltransversely spaced springs 20 extend between the front and rearrails 12 :and 1'8. Each spring element 20 is made-of a steel wirethat; is sinuously bent or corrugated from one end tothe other. The sinuous elements 20 form a spring unit having a crowned seating portion 22 :anchored at its rear end by clips 24 to the rear rail. `18 and a substantially V-shaped inwardly directed front portionV -26 anchored at its fron-t end by clips, 2d tothe front lrail. 12. The forward loops 30 Iof the sinuous spring elements 20l are kinked downwardly `and secured by clips 612 to a U-shaped edge reinforcing rod 34 which is suitably secured at its ends 36 tothe rear rail 18,. The outsidel sinuous spring elements 20 have their loops per-iodically secured to the sides` of the -edge reinforcing rod 34. `by clips 3,7, rEhe. clips y37 also secure the. upper ends of V-.shaped side edge reinforcing sinuous spring ele,- ments. 3,8.' which have their lower ends secured to the side rails. -14` by clips 40. The inwardly directed apices 42 of the V'shaped portions 26 of `the sinuous springelements x20. are secured by clipsv 44 to a transversely extending reinforcing rod 46. The seat cushion is encased in` conventional upholstery material 48 in the usual manner.

The. structure thus far described is known and the invention is directed to the imparting of supplemental resiliency to lthe cent-ral area of the seat cushion by means of the torsion lspring stiitener 50 best seen in Fig. 2.

The torsion spring stiffener l50 is `a rectangularly corrugated steel rod having a central loop 52 joined by depending crank arms 54 and 56 to outer loops 5S and 60 which terminate in legs `62 :and 64. The loops 58 and 60 and the legs 62 and 64 li-e in a plane that intersects the plane of the loop 52 and the crankarms l54 `and 56 .at an acute angle. The loop 52 extends transversely beneath the seating portion 22 of ve centrally located sinuous spring elements 20 and is pivotably connected thereto by clips 66. The loops 58 and 60 each lie transversely across three sinuous spring elements 20 on each side of the five centrally located sinuous spring elements 20 and are pivotably connected to lthe V-shaped portions 26 thereof by clips 68. The legs 62 and `64 lie longitudinally along the V-shaped portions 26 of a pair of outer spring elements 20 and bear thereon. Downw-ard flexing of the central ar-ea of the seating portion 22 4and the stiffener loop 52 rotates the stiffener crank arms `54 and 56 against :the Ireaction of the stiener legs 62 and 64 thereby -torsioning the stiffener loops 58 and 60. The torsion rod :stiifener `Si) thus imp-arts supplemental resiliency to the tive centrally located sinuous spring elements 20 to prevent ltheir bott-oming on the central reinforcing member 16 of the seat frame.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described fully in order to explain the principles of the invention, it is to be understood that modification in structure may be made by the exercise of skill in the art within .the scope of the invention, which is not to be regarded as limited by the detailed ldescription of the preferred embodiment.

I claim:

l. A seat cushion comprising a supporting frame hav- Iing front and rear rails, a spring unit including a plurality of sinuous spring elements extending across said frame between said front and rear rails thereof, said spring unit including a seating portion lanchored at its rear end to said lrear rail and a substantially V-shaped front portion anchored at its front `end :to said front rail, and a ltorsion spring stitfener for imparting supplemental resiliency to the central area of said seating portion comprising a rod hav-ing an intermediate transverse section pivotably connected across the seating portion of a central group of said elements, a pair of transverse outer sections pivotably connected across the V-shaped portion of a pair of outer groups of said elements, a pair of terminal sections extending transversely from said outer sections `and longitudinally -along the V-shaped portion of a pair of outer elements and bearing thereon, and a pair of depending sections connecting said intermediate and said outer sections so that downward tlexing of said central area of said seating portion torsions said side sections.

2. A seat cushion comprising a supporting frame having front and rear rails, a .spring unit including a plurality of sinuous spring elements extending across said frame between said front and `rear rails thereof, said spring unit including a seatingT portion anchored at its rear end to said rear rail and a subtantially V-shaped front portion anchored at its front end to said front rail, and a torsion spring stlener for imparting supplemental resiliency to the central area of said seating portion comprising a rectangularly corrugated rod hav-ing an intermediate section plvotably connected to the central portion of said seating portion, :a pair of louter lsections pivotably connected to outer portions of said V-shaped portion, a pair of depending crank arms connecting said intermediate vsection with said outer sections, and a pair of legs securing the extremities of said outer sections against rotation so that downward fiexing of said -seating porti-on will torsion said outer sections.

3. A spring cushion assembly comprising a supporting frame lhaving a pair of spaced rails, a spring unit including a plurality of sinuous spring elements extending across said frame between said rails and including an upper portion anchored to one of -said rails and a V- sh-aped underlying portion anchored to the other of said rails, and la torsion spring stiiener for imparting supplemental resiliency to said upper portion comprising a rod having la section connected to said upper portion and -a pair of loops depending downwardly therefrom and connected to said V-shaped portion so `that downward -eXing of `said upper portion 'torsions said loops.

4. A spring cushion :assembly comprising a supporting frame having `a pair of spaced rails, a spring unit Iincluding 1a plurality of sinuous spring elements extending across said frame between said rails and including an upper portion anchored yat its end to one of said rails and a V-shaped underlying portion anchored at its end to Ithe other of said rails, and -a torsion spring stiiener for imparting supplemental resiliency to said upper portion comprising a rectangularly corrugated rod having `an intermediate section connected to said upper portion, a pair of other sections connected to said V-shaped portion, a pair of depending crank yarms connecting said intermedia'te sec-tion with said other sections, and Ia pair of legs securing the extremities of said other sections against rotation so that downward flexing of said upper portion will torsion said other sections.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 815,436 Knorzer et al. Mar. 20, 1906 1,369,441 Josephson Feb. 22, 1921 2,029,076 Leeman Ilan. 28, 1936 2,145,408 Taylor Jan. 31, 1939 2,260,190 Neely Oct. 21, 1941 2,526,183 Williams et al Oct. 17, 1950 2,551,800 Hopkes May 8, 1951 2,629,430 Flint Feb. 24, 1953 2,643,705 Neely June 30, 1953 2,669,292 Asaro et al. Feb. 16, 1954 2,684,844 Flint et al. July 27, 1954 

